THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; Battling ads pit 'the king of beers' against 'the queen of carbs.' As for taste? Fuhgeddaboutit.

THE battle between the brewers of the Budweiser and Miller brand lines over the carbohydrate content of beers is taking a new, nasty turn.

The Anheuser-Busch Inc. division of the Anheuser-Busch Companies is reinforcing the image of its flagship brand, Budweiser, as ''the king of beers'' by describing Miller Lite in new store displays and newspaper advertising as ''the queen of carbs'' -- and ''South African owned,'' in contrast to Budweiser's being ''American brewed since 1876.''

The new owner of Miller Brewing and its brands, SABMiller, formerly South African Breweries and now based in London, is wasting no time responding. In an advertisement scheduled to appear today in USA Today, Miller Lite is surrounded in red, white and blue and described as ''American born since 1855'' in ''Milwaukee, Wis., U.S.A.'' and as ''American brewed since 1855.''

Anheuser-Busch's swipe at SABMiller and Miller is part of a companywide attack that began yesterday under the rubric ''Unleash the Dawgs.'' Anheuser-Busch wholesalers were invited by the company's vice president for sales, Michael Owens, to watch a broadcast on the Busch Satellite Network outlining what he said in a memo would be ''our strategic response'' to ''some of the desperate tactics Miller Lite is using.'' The response will include, in addition to the store and newspaper ads, radio commercials and promotions through the summer for four Anheuser-Busch beers.

The reference to ''desperate tactics'' was to a campaign from SABMiller by Wieden & Kennedy in Portland, Ore., tweaking Budweiser's self-designation as ''the king of beers'' by proclaiming that Miller Lite and another brand, Miller Genuine Draft, want to be ''president of beers'' -- because, as one Miller magazine ad puts it: ''This is America! We don't kowtow to a bunch of tiara-wearing crumpet eaters.''

Mr. Owens also referred to Miller campaigns that have turned around a decade-long decline in sales of Miller Lite by focusing on its having fewer carbohydrates in 12 ounces (3.2 grams) than the light version of Budweiser, Bud Light (6.6). According to scanner data from A.C. Nielsen, for the 26 weeks ended May 8, Miller Lite case volume rose 13.2 percent in supermarkets while Bud Light volume fell 0.8 percent.

Miller Lite, the first light beer from a major brewer, was once America's best-selling light beer, but Anheuser-Busch out-muscled Miller, then the Miller Brewing Company division of Philip Morris, with numerous humorous campaigns for Bud Light. Miller Lite actually fell to third place in sales among light beers, behind Bud Light and the Coors Light brand from the Coors Brewing division of Adolph Coors. Miller Lite sales began to revive only after the carbohydrate-focused campaign, by the Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide division of the WPP Group, began running last summer.

The ''Unleash the Dawgs'' program ''will provide further support to our sales force,'' said Bill Etling, a spokesman for Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis.

Carbohydrates became part of the beer wars in 2002 when Anheuser-Busch introduced a low-carbohydrate beer called Michelob Ultra (with 2.6 grams in 12 ounces, compared with 10.6 for Budweiser). The fight is illustrative of two big questions that have long vexed Madison Avenue. If your brand is a leader, how do you respond to a challenger without seeming like a petulant braggart fearful of legitimate rivalry? And by the same token, if your brand is a challenger, do you attack the leader, running the risk of seeming insecure or desperate, giving the leader even more publicity?

''This is getting dirty, into the gutter,'' said Michael Watrous, president and chief executive at Straightline International in New York, a brand identity consultant. The counterattack ''could harm Anheuser-Busch,'' Mr. Watrous said, ''because it could be looked upon as a bully, a giant brewery that can't take any competition.''

''The big guy should stay above all that,'' he added.

As for SABMiller, Mr. Watrous said, ''I'd be careful about my next move, because the little guy attacking the big guy runs a greater risk.''

In most instances when a challenger takes on a leader, it is done with a cheeky or deferential tone. For instance, Pepsi-Cola ads going after Coca-Cola almost always have a light-hearted attitude. And the campaign for Avis Rent a Car confronted the leader, Hertz, with humility: ''We're No. 2. We try harder.''

After SABMiller began promoting Miller Lite as lower in carbohydrates than Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch answered with a big TV, print and outdoor campaign from the Chicago office of DDB Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group, proclaiming: ''All light beers are low in carbs. Choose on taste.'' Miller Lite was not mentioned.

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Miller countered with humorous ads thanking Anheuser-Busch for bringing up taste because, the ads asserted, Miller Lite tastes better than Bud Light. That was reinforced with the campaign mocking Budweiser's ''king of beers'' theme, on television and in magazines.

''Carbs gave a window to Lite to recapture the attention of consumers, and it has had a little resurgence,'' said Michael Bellas, chairman of the Beverage Marketing Corporation in New York, a research and consulting company. ''But Anheuser-Busch is known for fighting back, and it wasn't going to stand still.''

The ''choose on taste'' campaign for Bud Light was ''a wonderful answer to Miller Lite, very high road,'' Mr. Bellas said, compared with the ''queen of carbs'' approach, which he said ''reminds me of a political campaign.''

Robert Mikulay, executive vice president for marketing at Miller, sent a note to distributors yesterday in which he described the ''queen of carbs'' remarks as meant to ''denigrate consumer concern about carbs'' and ''position Miller Lite as being simply a carb-centric brand.''

Some were taken aback by the ads.

''This to me says only women or 'girly men' have to watch their carbs because they have to be thin,'' said Terry O'Neill, a vice president at the National Organization for Women in Washington.

''It's a little homophobic, and sexist,'' she added, ''but for the alcohol industry, that ain't nothing new.''

Glennda Testone, media director at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in New York, said she believed that the slogan was ''pretty overtly sexist,'' because it implies being a king is better than being a queen, ''and one step away from being homophobic,'' because the word queen can be used as an epithet to describe an effeminate man.

Asked why it is better to be a king than a queen when they sit together in a throne room, Mr. Etling of Anheuser-Busch replied, ''That's up to you to interpret.''

As for bringing up Miller's foreign ownership, Mr. Etling said, Anheuser-Busch has ''learned that consumers are very interested in the fact that Miller Lite and all Miller brands are owned by a South African company.'' The phrase ''South African owned'' appears in the newspaper ad but not on the store signs.

Mr. Mikulay, in his note to Miller distributors, said the reference was intended to create perceptions of Miller ''as 'non-American.''' To counter that, he wrote, Miller will take steps that include today's ad in USA Today and new TV advertising this weekend that ''confirms Miller's distinctly American heritage.''

Mr. Bellas of Beverage Marketing sought to place the dispute in the context of the decades-old competition between Anheuser-Busch and Miller. Once, he said, John Bowlin, the longtime chief executive of Miller, ''put a foot pad under his desk with the Anheuser logo,'' and then ''Anheuser-Busch bought a sign across from his office with a Bud logo on it.''

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A version of this article appears in print on May 21, 2004, on Page C00006 of the National edition with the headline: THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; Battling ads pit 'the king of beers' against 'the queen of carbs.' As for taste? Fuhgeddaboutit. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe